lunacu

Well, I do work in the cafeteria, you know.

(Muttering) One, two, three, four, five, six... There's still some gloompincer from yesterday, too. Good, good...

Counting your rations again?

Lunacub?!

No need to hide them. I figured out which layer you wrapped them in a long time ago.

Thanks for leaving them alone...

Why do you say 'thanks' all the time? You always say you don't want to trouble him or her or whomever, but... that word alone is troubling enough.

So stop thanking me and tell me about this 'hitchhiking.' Where is this car that's waiting for us?

It's not waiting for us, we just need to encounter one... *sigh* It's been five days and we haven't seen a single car pass by. Our luck's just horrible.

I saw some fresh tuskbeast dung, so there's probably a pack nearby. I can't tell if this is one I know, but where there's a pack, there's prey.

We can follow the prey, wait until they head towards the closest city, then take a car from there back to Rhodes Island.

But... Nuova Volsinii...

You can't make it to the concert. But if you listen to me, you won't go hungry.

...But I still want to go!

Go and do what?

I took two whole months off to go to Nuova Volsinii! I can't just give up now!

Even if the concert is over, I still want to go! I want to go cry my heart out at the theater entrance! I want to buy the merchandise! I want to hear the last echoes of that once-in-a-lifetime experience!

Hmph, I guess it's only at times like these that you actually speak up.

Am I being too stubborn about this? I've been wondering that for a while now.

Why? Isn't it normal want to do what you want?

Well... I think a lot of people can't do that.

Now that you say it, people in the city do seem like that.

Only ever worrying about what other people think, without even asking, until you're too afraid to do <i>anything</i>. Even though no one's stopping you.

Or insisting you want to do something that's too much for you, so you and everyone else are just fed up with it afterwards.

Is this some kind of 'cunning'? Something you do so you don't go hungry when you can't catch any prey?

*sobs*...

What now?

(Muttering) Your 'worrying about what others think' thing reminded me that I <i>definitely</i> need to get to Nuova Volsinii. I promised all my colleagues those vinyls...

*sigh* I don't get you at all.

That's fair, I don't really get me either...

Lunacub, your rations.

Lunacub?

Huh? Oh.

You seem rather absent-minded. What's wrong?

I can smell the tuskbeast pack.

Tuskbeast pack... Oh right, I remember hearing that you lived with a pack of beasts before you came to Rhodes Island.

That's right.

It must have been interesting going from that to the landship, and seeing all those unfamiliar things.

Eh, there were a lot of things I hadn't seen before, some good to eat, some fun to play with, but I don't like seeing a ceiling when I wake up.

If Agnese hadn't asked me to wait there, I might just leave. Dunno when, though.

Agnese... Where is that friend of yours, anyway?

That... It's annoying to explain. Agnese is right here, next to me.

...Huh?

Measuring Cup fears that he has somehow offended her and hastily tries to explain himself, but Lunacub does not react at all. She is staring with rapt attention at thin air. It is difficult to tell if she is looking at something near or far away.

As the bonfire crackles in the silence, Measuring Cup suddenly hears the howling of the tuskbeast pack, far in the distance.

Lunacub, are you... thinking of returning to the pack?

Huh? What did you say? I was listening to Agnese just now.

...Never mind.

Okay.

The tent's all set up. You can turn in early if you want to sleep.

That pack of tuskbeasts is calling out again, but Lunacub wouldn't really go rejoin her old pack, right?

*sigh* She's taught me so much these past few days. Guess I still can't get the upper hand...

*siiiiigh* Why am I even thinking about this stuff...

(Steady breathing)

(Yawn) What was that? Lunacub? Is something going on?

Lunacub? Lunacub!

Nobody's here?

Sh-She said... that where there are tuskbeasts, there's prey, so I just have to wait here...

Who cares what she told me? I need to check on the rations.

They're all gone?!

A trail of footprints leaves the west side of camp, a perfect fit for Lunacub's shoes.

In desperation, Measuring Cup grabs the cooking pot by the fire. Then, fearing it won't be enough, also snatches a large fork before hurriedly following the footprints.

*pant* *pant* *pant* ...Lunacub! Lunacub, where are—

Stay back!

If you're going to run off without a word, you could have at least left me some rations.

You idiot, how am I supposed to lure sandbeasts without bait? We won't always stumble over easy prey like those gloompincers.

You didn't have to abandon me either—

Stupid!

I'm not just hunting for myself, I'm hunting for the both of us—

Do you want to die?!

What's happening?

It's fine if you want to help, just stop asking questions and come over here!

A tuskbeast pack? I thought you guys were friends?

I don't know every pack in the Siracusan wilds. They couldn't catch any sandbeasts on their own, so now they're here to snatch someone else's prey. Hmph.

Well... Can you talk things out?

What's there to talk about? There's only one sandbeast. Either we eat, or they eat. Do you want to go hungry?

I... I was just wondering if we could come to a peaceful resolution.

You'll starve to death if you keep thinking like that!

I thought you left that blind consideration behind when you talked about the concert. If we don't eat that sandbeast, we both starve. And if we starve, then you're missing the concert!

Can you walk? They'll close in on us soon. If you're gonna run, you'd better run soon!

(Deep breath) I-I-I'm not going to run!

Good. You don't need to go anywhere, just stand here. When I yell 'hit it,' then hit that pot as hard as you can!

Hit... the pot?

I'm the pack leader, so listen to me! You need to scare them! Scare them bad! If the pack wins, we lose! There's no 'peaceful resolution' here! If you don't fight for what's yours, nobody is going to just give it to you!

Will you do it or not?

...Alright!

Okay…

Hit it!

The sound of thick metal clashing against metal resounds through the woods, distracting the tuskbeasts who have never heard such a sound before and stopping them in their tracks.

Got you now!

Hit it again!

Again! Harder!

After three rings of the pot, three tuskbeasts fall to the ground, pierced by arrows.

The next time I say 'hit it', I need you to hit that pot as hard as you can and for as many times as your arms can handle! The harder and faster, the better!

HIT IT!

The tuskbeast pack is pushed back by a barrage of chaos. The raucous din of clanging metal overlays the volleys of arrows being fired wildly, all while their fellows drop to the ground one by one.

In the end, the matriarch of the pack cries out twice, and they quickly retreat into the forest.

They're gone. We should get this sandbeast back to our camp as soon as we can.

...Alright.

I've got a question, and maybe this is insensitive, but those tuskbeasts you killed, couldn't we also...?